


Everything That Mattered is Dust

by SerStolas



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Inspired by Music, M/M, Maybe a happy ending?, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 11:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13810071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: A decade ago, the One Ring was destroyed.  A decade ago, Gimli and Legolas traveled together first to the Glittering Caves and then to Fangorn.  A decade ago, both of them failed to admit their deeper emotions for each other.  Now they meet again in Minas Tirith during renovations on the city.  But not all is well with Legolas.Inspired by Through the Ghost by Shinedown.





	Everything That Mattered is Dust

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Lord of the Rings. I do not own Through the Ghost.
> 
> Legolas is not a damsel in distress and I do not want to convey that sort of thing. I tend to personally go with a headcanon of Legolas being very confident in battle, but being rather shy otherwise, and sometimes hiding behind a mask that others mistake for coldness. He very much loves Gimli, bubotj fear ruining their friendship. For Legolas, the consequences are just a tad more serious...
> 
> I know I should be working on Sea and Sky Gray Eyes but this idea kind of bit me and wouldn't let go. Sea will get updated later this week.

It had been a few years since Gimli had last visited Minas Tirith, and he looked forward to a reunion with his dearest friends. He knew that Aglarond would be in good hands while he and representatives of both Aglarond and Erabor traveled to the White City to assist with additional repairs and renovations, and for the placement of the great gates that Gimli had forged for the city.

Gimli looked forward to seeing the new gates on the city, but more he looked forward to seeing his friends.

Aragorn had mentioned in his last letter that a contingent of elves from the Greenwood and Rivendell were in the city tending to the White Tree and other gardens within the city. Among that contingent was one Legolas Greenleaf.

Gimli's heart both rose and ached at the thought of seeing Legolas again, after a decade apart. Legolas had and always would be his dearest friend, and they'd written letters back and forth over the years, but it was not the same as seeing each other. He missed his friend, but he also ached at knowing that Legolas was his One, his heart, and he'd never told the Elf. It seemed too much to hope that Legolas would return his affections, and so he'd never said anything before they parted. Seeing Legolas again he felt would be both a joy and a special form of torture.

"Lord Gimli?" a rough voice broke into his thoughts and he blinked, regarding the gruff dwarrowdam riding on a donkey beside him. "We are nearing the city."

Her voice was low, and her tone indicated she was perhaps the only one who had noticed he had been lost in his own thoughts, thank Mahal for that.

He nodded a thanks and shifting in the saddle of his donkey, turning his eyes to gaze at the White City. It gleamed like opal in the sun, and Gimli felt that had to be a good omen as they approached the city. He rode ahead, leading his companions through the gates. They received friendly hails from the steel and silver clad guards bearing the emblem of the White Tree on their armor. Gimli and the other dwarves with him noted the waves and talk that followed them as they rode through the levels of the city, waved through and greeted warmly by the guards at each gate, until they reached the top tier. 

King Elessar and Queen Arwen greeted them personally, and Gimli allowed the formal greeting for a few minutes before he threw his broad arms first around Arwen and then Aragorn, greeting his old friends heartily and warmly.

"Ah we have missed your laughter and company here, old friend," Aragorn told him as the dwarves were lead inside. "Knowing you, we've prepared accommodation on the sixth level for you and your companions, closer to our finest craftsman and forges to assist in the renovations, but tonight we would host a banquet to welcome you."

Sigrid, Gimli's second in command of the lords and craftsman with him, nodded her approval as Gimli replied. "We thank you, greatly, Aragorn. This arrangement will suit us well."

"And I do promise we have rather fine ales from Rohan available," Arwen replied with the dance of laughter in her eyes. 

That lead to some approving chuckles from the gathered dwarves. Sigrid gave Arwen another bow and said with a perfectly straight face. "That would please us well, your Majesty."

"Settle into your quarters first, and we will see you tonight," Aragorn advised. "Though Gimli if you would, we would speak to you."

Sigrid clapped Gimli on the back. "I've got this, my lord. Go and catch up with your friends."

Gimli eyed her a moment but gave her his leave. There was never much standing on ceremony outside of formal occasions with his people.

As Gimli followed Aragorn and Arwen into the Citadel, he glanced towards the tree a moment, recalling the elves supposedly in residence. "Where is Legolas, if I might ask?" he inquired.

Arwen's expression dimmed a moment and Aragorn exchanged a glance with her.

"He works with the others here from Rivendell and the Greenwood. mostly in the Gardens by the House of Healing and other levels of the city," Aragorn replied. "But he.."

"He is not well," Arwen replied in a way of understanding that only an elf could convey. "Legolas hears the call of the gulls with little to anchor him to this world but his friends."

Gimli almost felt his heart stop at the very thought. The thought of Legolas sailing West made him ill. "Can nothing else anchor him here?" Gimli asked with a deep frown.

Arwen regarded him with her dark eyes, and Gimli found he could not fully met that gaze for more than a few moments.

"I cannot say," Arwen replied. "Perhaps though, Gimli son of Gloin, you can."

Aragorn regarded her seriously, taking his hand in hers, and then looked at Gimli sharply.

They knew, Gimli realized. They knew how Gimli felt about the blond Prince of Mirkwood.

"Where is he now?" Gimli asked quietly.

"The Gardens near the House of Healing," Aragorn supplied.

~~

Half an hour later Gimli found his way to those gardens. As much as he wanted to catch up with Arwen and Aragorn, Arwen's tone when she mentioned that Legolas was not well made this seem more important. Did the call of the gulls truly way that heavily on his friend? Legolas had once said he would not sail so long as his friends from the Fellowship lived. Evidently the weight of the call over the past decade though had been more wearing than any of them could have foreseen.

He was greeted politely by guards and a few healers as he passed the House of Healing, but his eyes were for the gardens.

A pale haired elf, one from the Greenwood Gimli guessed, was standing against one wall of the gardens, watching as Legolas knelt before what Gimli guessed were healing herbs. Gimli couldn't see Legolas's face from here, and Legolas did not seem to note his approach, but the blond elf against the wall did.

He looked so much like Legolas, perhaps a bit taller, than Gimli could tell instantly that they were related. The elf regarded him with cool gray eyes and crossed the distance between them with a swiftness Gimli did not quite expect. The elf moved with a purpose, and it concerned him.

"Gimli, son of Gloin?" the elf addressed him a low voice, tone cool as the northern ice.

"I am, Master Elf," Gimli replied, his brown eyes narrowing. "Who might you be?

"Liriedir, son of Thranduil," the reply came. The blond stood regally looking down at Gimli with something in his eyes that Gimli could not quite identify. It wasn't hatred, it wasn't distaste, but what?

"Crown Prince of the Greenwood?" Gimli lifted a red brow. "Well met, Prince Liriedir."

Liriedir surprised Gimli and waved aside the greeting, instead pressing straight to the issue, however unelflike it seemed. "You're here to see Legolas," he made it a statement.

"I am," Gimli replied. "Legolas is a dear friend and comrad. Why should I not seek him out?"

Liriedir's eyes narrowed. "What do you know of his condition?" The tone was low and tight.

Tinged with concern, Gimli thought. What was wrong with Legolas?

"Queen Arwen states he is not well.." Gimli replied slowly. "He hears the call of the gulls."

"I can hear both of you," Legolas's voice interupted both of them and Gimli turned to see his friend standing now, regarding both of them with an unreadable gaze. 

Gimli had never seen those blue eyes look so unemotionally at him, even at the beginning of the Fellowship. His friend wore a mask, he realized. Gimli heard Liriedir curse quietly in one of the elvish tongues and glanced at Gimli. The tall elf spoke in a very low tone before slipping off. "Maybe you can help him where none of the rest of us have been able to."

Legolas merely stood there watching Gimli as the dwarf approached. The closer he got, he realized how pale Legolas seemed, how...sick. His friend's skin looked almost translucent. 

What could have caused this?

"Legolas, you look like a ghost," Gimli found himself saying.

Legolas gave a careless shrug. "All things fade, mellon nin."

There was something that flickered through those oh so pilote eyes of Legolas's, something that Gimli couldn't quite read.

"Fade?" Gimli asked in a hushed tone. "What do you mean fade? Legolas what is wrong?"

Legolas smiled faintly. "Do not trouble yourself, mellon nin. It is merely something that I must deal with."

"If you are ill of course I am going to worry," Gimli growled. "You are my dearest friend."

The elf tilted his head a moment. "The call of the gulls merely wears on me. It wears me down so. But we are here to assist Aragorn. Even 10 years after the battle, the city suffers in some places, and we must fix what we can in the time we have."

The time they had? "Are you...going to sail, after we are done?" Gimli asked, feeling his heart ache again.

"My brother believes I should," Legolas replied with a humorless laugh. "But I made a promise, mellon nin I will keep it, have no fear. I will watch you and Aragorn, I will visit you and your children, and then when you pass beyond my reach, I shall sail."

"I rather doubt I'll ever have children," Gimli muttered. "My One is not a dwarrowdam."

Legolas sighed a little, and it sounded sad to Gimli's ears. "You have found your One then? A fine dwarf?"

There was more of Legolas's heart in that sigh than perhaps he realized, and Gimli's eyes went wide, his mind connecting things Aragorn had told him in the past, the concern on the face of Legolas's elder brother.

"No, you daft elf!" Gimli felt his temper now. Would Legolas simply fade so peacefully, without speaking to him about why? Those he remembered the overtures of friendship in the beginning, Legolas's own nervousness, a painful shyness that everyone mistook for arrogance and coolness. But they were friends, did Legolas feel he could not speak..

Gimli flushed when he remembered he was a guilty of remaining quiet as Legolas was.

"No you daft elf,": Gimli replied in a quieter tone. "You are my One. You used to shine so brightly, but now you stand here, pale moonlight to the golden sun you were. You fade on me, and I find it breaks my heart."

Legolas froze before him, the breaths coming between them for what seemed like a century to Gimli before the elf spoke. Legolas staggered forward and Gimli opened his arms, catching the elf and guiding him to his knees on the white stone, and they stared at each other. Legolas then buried his head in Gimli's shoulder, ignoring the press of armor, and wept, half hysterical sobs.

"Your One? I Gimli, am your One?" Legolas gulped out between sobs, his grasp tight on Gimli as the dwarf engulfed the blond elf in his arms. "I longed and feared our reunion, thinking you cared for me, as a friend, but did not know my heart, and could never return my regard."

"We are a fancy pair of fools," Gimli replied, feeling some tears in his own eyes. "I feared to lose your friendship. But I fear more to lose you."

"Meleth nin, I would fade without you," Legolas whispered into Gimli's hair and beard. 

"Ghivashelê, no," Gimli tightened his grasp on the elf. "Do not fade. I love you, my heart. I need you."

Legolas pulled back enough to meet Gimli's eyes, and Gimli saw some color returning to his beloved's face and eyes. His sun was starting to shine again. "I love you too, Gimli-nin. Meleth-nin." Tentatively then, Legolas leaned forward and pressed his lips against Gimli's. 

Gimli returned the kiss, fire brewing between them, warmth surrounding both. There was a desperation and a sweetness to the kiss, and then finally they parted, and merely held each other for the longest of times.

And the sun shown down on the two, chasing away the ghosts of doubt.


End file.
